Quantum Leap Issue #6 – “A Tale of Two Cindys” (Innovation Publishing) – Blue Towel Productions

Sam leaps into Cindy Anderson, a high school teenager whose twin sister Sandy is fated to be the victim of a date rape in the coming days. Believing the perpetrator to be a popular boy that Sandy has a crush on, Sam works to prevent her date by insinuating himself into the relationship. However, Sam’s mission turns out to be something else all together–and just when it appears he won’t be able to prevent what happens to Sandy, Sam leaps from one twin directly to the other, exposing the real rapist and preventing Sandy from becoming his victim.

Written by George Broderick, jr & Becky Broderick. Illustrated and colored by Andy Price. Lettered by Vickie Williams. Edited by George Broderick, jr. and David Campiti. Created by Donald P. Bellisario.

Previous Story: Seeing is Believing (Quantum Leap #5) • Next Story:  Lives on the Fringe (Quantum Leap #7a)

Comments:
Okay, first things first…this is the first Quantum Leap issue in some time that holds true to the details of the series’ premise: Sam is leapt through time by God or fate or time or whoever in order to improve things that originally went wrong. This may seem obvious if you know the show, but as I commented last time it’s something that the comic series has struggled with for a while. So in this way A Tale of Two Cindys is a breath of fresh air, a success!

And in most other ways too. It’s a good story, in the classic Quantum Leap style of dealing with ordinary people going through life-changing circumstances, and a problem that ultimately requires Sam to really put some effort into finding a solution for. The only real weakness in the construction of the situation is that Ziggy picks up on Sandy’s rape, but not on the death of the twins’ mother, as a possible reason for Sam to be present. Of course both circumstances are pretty devastating and could ruin one’s life, but surely the mother’s death would be easier for a computer in the future to pick up on.

Oh well, it’s the sort of inconsistency I can excuse because it leads to such good drama. When Sam finds out that saving Mrs. Anderson is the real reason he’s there, and that this might mean he’s unable to save Sandy, the tension is real. When he begins to actually leap, then it really looks hopeless. The twist of having him leap right into Sandy herself is inspired, and something I really enjoyed.

This is the type of twist to the formula that the TV show would occasionally do as well, although it never did this exact thing.

A more traditional twist that shows up in the plot is the reveal that Rick is not Sandy’s would-be rapist at all, but rather that it is Dudley, the nerdy character who up until the seemed to just be comic relief. It’s not a giant shock or anything, but it’s still an effective surprise. The plot point of Sam convincing Cindy not to press charges is one that reads as more surprising today than it probably did back in the 90s when this issue was produced. It’s not that the story excuses Dudley at all, but to treat him as someone who needs help rather than retribution is I think a harder sell today than it would have been then. I guess it’s possible to accept it from an audience-perspective because we know that he didn’t actually succeed at raping anyone, and because we have Al’s future-perspective telling us that this not jailing him will ultimately lead to a better outcome for everyone.

Overall, I really liked A Tale of Two Cindys–I think it’s the most successful issue of the series so far at capturing the tone of the TV show, and at telling an interesting story that is perfectly paced for its page-count. On top of that, there is some interesting stuff going on with the art, including some really dynamic panels of the critical action sequences (Sam saving Mrs. Anderson, Sam kicking Dudley).

A fun and satisfying read.

I was slightly confused when the issue ended with leap-in to Sam’s time as Karen Connors from Issue #1 of this series. The art for this page looks different than that of the rest of the issue, but also not quite the same as it first appeared. I wondered if its the same art from Issue #1, but inked differently–but that doesn’t quite add up either, as there’s at least one extra panel in the #6 depiction of the scene not present in the original (and there’s an extra “h” in Sam’s “Ohh, boy” line!)

Whoever the art is by, it’s still a confusing choice. In the early days of the series leap-ins to old episodes were used multiple times, presumably to accommodate the scheduling of repeats (viewers from the decades before the modern streaming era will recognise this concept), but with a comic book that doesn’t make a lot of sense. But then I see on the inside of the back cover that the first issue was being reprinted in a new special edition with a new cover and a bunch of other supplemental material, so presumably it was to lead into that. I wonder if the reprint included the same leap-in at the end as the original, or if it was updated to to go Issue #7?

Who and Where is Dr. Sam Beckett?
Sam is Cindy Anderson, a high school student at Martin van Buren High School, from February 12-14, 1959. Then he is also Cindy’s twin sister Sandy, on February 14th. The city and state is never identified, but it looks like a medium sized-town in a wooded area. Martin van Buren was from New York in real life, so maybe it’s somewhere in upstate New York.

What does Sam have to do?
As Cindy, Sam has to prevent the twins’ mother from breaking her neck when she trips on a toy and falls down the stairs. Then, when he becomes Sandy, he must save her from being raped, and also help to put the would-be perpetrator Dudley Tanner get psychiatric counselling which leads him to eventually start a halfway house for unwed mothers.

What do we learn about Sam Beckett?
Sam monologues about growing up in Elk Ridge, Indiana, and how he always looked forward to the 3:30 bell at the end of the school day. This sound is associated for him with basketball practice, meeting with his friends, and the smell of Mom’s dinner cooking when he arrived home.

Sam remembers the TV shows Leave it to Beaver and The Patty Duke Show, but he cannot remember if he bowls. Apparently, he likes oatmeal.

What do we know about Al?
Nothing new this time, other than the little bit about twins mentioned below in “The Many Loves of Al Calavicci”.

What about the experiment?
Sandy is somehow subconsciously aware of Al’s presence and Sam’s true identity, including things he says and the light from the door to the Imaging Chamber. This is explained away as a latent psychic connection between her and her twin sister.

Sam later wonders if he’s coming in tune with his twin.

Similarly, when Cindy returns, she remembers, at least for a bit, her time in the Waiting Room, what Sam has done for her family’s and Al’s name and rank.

Gushie is mentioned, spelled as I am doing it here, which I’ve heard is the more official way it was spelled in the scripts.

“Driven by an unknown force…” (God or Time or Something)
After seeing Sam leap into Sandy and save her from the rape, Al says, “Boy, Sam–what a leap! My hat’s off to whoever’s in charge. That was a nifty trick!”

“Oh Boy”
There are a few here. Sam says, “Oh boy, I’m a twin!” when he first sees his reflection. When Sam and Al first discover that Sandy can, to some degree, perceive Al’s presence, Sam says, “Ohhh, boy,” and then later when it happens again, he says, “Ohh boy.” And after Sam’s second leap, Cindy says “Oh boy” about something, which prompts Sam to realize that she is on some level aware of him.

Finally Sam says “Ohh boy,” when he leaps into his role as a female school teacher at the end.

Sam’s Complicated Love Life
As Cindy, Sam must deliberately make himself available so that Rick will ask her out to the dance. And then as Sandy, Sam fends off Dudley, whose sexual interest is very much one-sided. He also fends off Rick–although it’s unclear if Sandy had already been doing that.

The Many Loves of Al Calavicci
Al ogles a girl in one of the “clips” used in the first page; I don’t remember if this is from a specific episode.

Al begins to talk about a twin-related fantasy before Sam cuts him off. Later he admires the dancing teenaged girls and speaks wistfully about being sixteen again.

Other Observations
• The story opens with a variation of the pre-title “saga sell” sequence from the TV series, with captions that are similar, but not identical to, the usual narration that accompanied this: “Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator–and vanished! He awake to find himself trapped in the past, suffering from partial amnesia–and facing mirror images that were not his own–and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his won time who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And, so, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life–putting things right that once went wrong…and hoping each time that his next leap…will be the leap home.”

• Along with this are images from various episodes. I don’t recognise them all, but for sure there is The Color of Truth and Double Identity, images that were also used into the show during this sequence.

• Over the slash page with the credits, there is an image of the series logo accompanied by images of Al and Sam, and a bunch of random years, all similar to the opening credits of the show. There are various historical images inside the letters of “Quantum Leap”, again similar to what was in the background of the TV opening title sequence, although not all the images were used on TV. I can make out a helicopter (maybe in. Vietnam), a shot from The Honeymooners, Marilyn Monroe and her famous skirt blowing over the sewer, the Beatles, John F. Kennedy, an ERA march, Lyndon Johnson’s inauguration, a peace symbol, Elvis (I think), Adam West as Batman, and the moon landing.

• I like Sam’s opening narration about school bells. He talks about how when he was a kid he really looked forward to the 3:30 bell, because of all the pleasant things it signified. “But not today,” he continues. “Not knowing where I was or what I was here to do made that once-welcome sound seem shrill and particularly harsh.”

• Cindy and Sandy’s younger is brother is playing with a Captain Galaxy toy, a direct reference to the episode Future Boy.

• I like Sam interrupting Al as he’s talking about his twin-related fantasy: “Al! If we could detour from the road to Slsazeville for a moment…why am I here?’

• Al has a good line when talking about how Sandy’s rapist wasn’t arrest. “He was her date to the dance. This was the fifties, Sam. Things like ‘Date Rape’ weren’t discussed. This is at least twenty years before Phil or Oprah.”

• Watching Milton Berle on TV, Sam remarks that he doesn’t find a man in women’s clothing is particularly funny. Of course, Sam, a man, is sitting there wearing women’s clothing.

• On page 15, there is a 2/3 page montage showing Sam dealing with the complexities of being a teen girl at school.

We see him doing well in math, struggling to be cheerleader, having to change in the shower, and choosing which bathroom to use. It’s an example of how well the issue manages to pace it’s story and exposition.

• When Al and Sam hear Buddy Holly playing on the jukebox, Al refers to Peggy Sue as “our song” and references meeting him. There’s some neat art and lettering on that same panel to indicate the song being played.

• Sandy is pretty devious–keeping the date with Rick by pretending to be her sister. We never see her after the date goes badly, and we don’t hear anything about how she goes in the future, so we never learn how she reacted to her deception going so badly wrong.

• It seems like Ziggy is able to predict what will happen to Dudley, in a lot of detail, if Sam is able to convince Cindy not to press charges. This is not very common in the show–usually Ziggy doesn’t know, categorically anyway, the result of an action until after Sam takes it in the past.

• There is letter column at the back of the book that goes on for eight pages. Amongst them is a reference to the Christmas stockings that are seen in the margins of Issue #3 (see here) and the fact that they were cropped. For the benefit of all, the editor has them reprinted here in full.

Incidentally, you can see here Gushie’s name being spelled the other way, ie “Gooshie.”

Sam Leaps To…
First There was a Mountain, Then There Was No Mountain, Then There Was (Issue #1)

Favorite Dialogue
I think my favorite is a bit of Sam’s narration about the Anderon family’s dynamic of just hanging out together in the evening:

In all my leaps through time, the one constant is my being there to change something…but sitting here with the Anderson’s enjoying each other’s company, a simple pleasure that, in my time, would become ‘Quality Time’ and have to be ‘scheduled’–I realized that there were some things that should never change.

The Best Moment
My favorite bit is when the returning Cindy actually remembers her time in the Waiting Room, and takes the opportunity to thank Sam for all he’s done for her family. It’s a genuinely unique idea, which creates a nice emotional moment for Sam.

However, when Al asks if Sam still thinks this is thankless job, I assumed that was a dialogue call-back to something from earlier in the issue that I’d forgotten, but going back I wasn’t able to find it. The moment would have landed a bit better if it had been referencing something from earlier, but it still makes for a great scene.

Previous Story: Seeing is Believing (Quantum Leap #5) • Next Story:  Lives on the Fringe (Quantum Leap #7a)